After a decade of disappointments in the search for a cure, researchers think they’ve unearthed a potential Alzheimer's disease game-changer.

“We're at the most exciting point in the neuroscience of Alzheimer's disease right now,” said Dr. Robert Stern, the director of the clinical core of the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center. “There's tremendous hope.”

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“We're going to start discovering treatments that work,” said Dr. Robert Green, a neurologist and medical geneticist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

The historic, first-of-its-kind study will test whether drugs can prevent Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Reisa Sperling, director of the Center for Alzheimer's Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women's Hospital, is leading the $36 million, three-year Anti-Amyloid treatment of Asymptomatic Alzheimer's disease (A4) trial right here in Boston.

“We test for cholesterol before people have a stroke or a heart attack, but we know the cholesterol is building up in their arteries (and) we can give them medications and hopefully prevent a stroke or heart attack. This is our hope in Alzheimer's disease,” said Sperling.

The key is the discovery of abnormal brain proteins called amyloid plaques.

They're like a calling card for the disease, showing up decades before any of the first signs of memory loss.

“Amyloid plaques form outside the nerve cells but disrupt the ability of each of these nerve cells to talk to each other,” said Sperling.

Scientists are just now able to track them using brain scans. Those scans show that even in someone with very mild Alzheimer's disease dementia, amyloid plaques are already abundant in the areas of the brain responsible for thinking and memory.

“The plaques that build up in Alzheimer's disease begin probably 20 years before people develop dementia,” said Sperling.

The study’s plan is to give patients an amyloid-busting drug designed to stop the disease in its tracks.

“And hopefully they will remain stable and have a good memory for a long period of time to come and ultimately escape getting dementia altogether,” said Sperling.

Past studies tested these same drugs with little to no success. But they were given to people already diagnosed with dementia -- too late, researchers now say, since more than half of critical brain cells are thought to be gone by that time.

“We can't bring back brain tissue once it's destroyed,” said Stern.

“It is really an exciting time, partly because we can identify these individuals, but perhaps most importantly, because we can do something about it,” said Sperling.

All the experts Newscenter 5 talked with said they expect to see an effective Alzheimer’s treatment within next five to 10 years.

The A4 study plans to start enrolling participants this fall/winter. For those who wish to participate in related Alzheimer's research, Sperling also said enrollment for the Harvard Aging Brain Study is still open now through September 2013. They are still looking for a variety of people to participate, including minorities and people from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. To learn more, call 617-643-0143 or visit http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/harvardagingbrain.